CinderHAKU
by Takako san
Summary: This is a Cinderella twist on Spirited Away. Please review-this is my first Sprited Away fic.One shot fic.i thought it was sweet at least :-)Fairy Tale style


AN: This is Sprited Away with a Cinderella Twist.  
  
This is my first Sprited Away fic so please be gentle with me  
  
DO enjoy!  
  
Disclaimer: I am not proffitting from using characters that are not mine :-)

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HAJIME  
  
Once Upon a Time there was a girl called Chihiro. She was in the height of her youth at the ripe age of sixteen. Although she appeared to be as normal as any other teenager, she had a mysterious past.   
  
When she was a mere ten years of age, she had stumbled across a bathouse for the Gods and there she had met her soul mate, an enchanted boy, apprentice of the sorceress who owned the bathouse.  
  
The Sorceress was an evil woman named Yubaba and she would employ people with the soul intent to steal their names, so that they could never leave.  
  
This was the curse of young Haku.  
  
However when Chihiro had come to the bathouse, she helped Haku reunite with his name and in the process they had fallen for eachother. However, due to their young age, they did not recognise this as true love but only as a strong bond.  
  
After Chihiro returned to the human world, Haku found his heart pining away for her, waiting to return to her, waiting for Yubaba to release him. And yet, even though Haku knew his name, Yubaba always managed to trap into running another errand or poisoning him so that he wouldnt be able to travel.  
  
Six years later, the beautiful Chihiro was finally having a ball at her high school. Her dear Haku however had never left her thoughts, and she still expected his return to her at any moment as he had promised.  
  
She was a popular sixteen year old girl in her school and every boy desired to be her escort to the ball, but she rejected every offer, in the faint hope that maybe Haku would come. Little did she know that he had heard about the ball from the spirit realm and was planning on how he could meet her there.  
  
He requested Yubaba to let him go just for one evening. Yubaba simply laughed at him mockingly saying,  
  
"Yes fcourse you can go........however on my conditions.   
1) you cannot tell her who you are  
2) you must complete all you errands before you go and finally   
3) you must return by midnight no matter how late you arrive there"  
  
In love's desperation, Haku accepted.   
  
The night of the ball, Haku ran like the wind to the 12 destinations that Yubaba had sent him to. By the time he reached the bathouse to get ready, he was dirty, tired and it was already 11:00. At that moment, Chihiro was preparing for her ball, dressing herself in a beautiful gown that appeared to be made of pearls and diamonds.  
  
Defeated, Haku wept inwardly, recognising that he would once more fail his sweet Chihiro, the queen over his heart. Sitting at the end of the steps that led to the boiler room, teal coloured hair falling between his fingers, he was a painting of a boy becoming a man. He did not know how he could keep his promise to the woman he loved, and this kept him from staying a boy, and he was only just becoming a man. His hair was longer, and he could sweep it back into a band making his facial features appear even more sharper and defined. Hearing the sound of bare feet on stone, he looked up to see Rin.  
  
She beckoned to him, leading him into the boiler room where he saw Kamaji and Zeniba. They appeared different as there seemed to be a golden aura about them as they radiated a glowing smile at him.  
  
"We know you want to go to the Ball Haku sama" they said to him.  
  
"I do...but its just impossible. I have no way of getting there!" Haku complained.  
  
"We can do something about that"- Rin said, handing him an herbal cake. "Break it in half, and eat one half to get there, and the other to return"  
  
"But....But i have nothing to wear, look at me! I'm dirty, and i have never ever been to a formal event before" Haku said.  
  
"There is a special herbal bath ready for you to soak in and here is your suit" Kamaji said, as the little soot balls scuttered out carrying a gleaming uniform.  
  
The trousers were the same colour as his hair, but the blazer was far more supreme. It was white and perfectly fitted to Haku's now broad shoulders, and had all the badges and tags of an army officer. However on closer inspection, Haku saw that they were in fact, polished and shining tickets for different soaks at the bath house.  
  
After soaking in the bath, Haku dressed and tyed his hair in a band given to him by Zeniba.  
  
"There's another thing.....i cant exactly go back to Chihiro empty handed and i dont have anything to show for myself. There's just too many things holding me back. Perhaps its just not meant to be..." Haku despaired.  
  
Seeing this, Zeniba stood forward. She put a spell on the little soot ball workers of Kamajii turning them into servant boys for Haku, to follow him to the ball.  
  
They stood in two lines of 5 carrying star shaped bowls filled with gold coins.  
  
"It seems you have predicted every possible problem except....its 11:40 now...and i probably wont even have enough time to dance with Chihiro let alone help her to guess who i am, Zeniba san....what can i do?"  
  
"It seems i cannot do anything for you there.....but let me tell you this, one dance in your lover's arms, can last a lifetime. Things will work themselves out my child" She told him, smiling sympathetically.  
  
Haku was now ready to meet Chihiro. After six years of waiting, the time had finally come for them to reunite.  
  
Chewing on the herbal cake and choking it down, Haku found his surroundings melting away and the entrance to the Ball materialise around him.  
  
The music stopped as Haku stood with his servants at the top of the white marble steps that led down to the main dancefloor.  
  
Walking down, he spotted Chihiro in her stunning gown, and walking straight over to her, he swept her up in his arms and began to dance with her to the slow music that began to play. Everybody had stopped to watch this amazing couple whirl the night away on the dance floor. There was an electric energy about them which Chihiro acknowledged and realised she had only actually felt it once before.  
  
"I dont know who you are.....but....i feel as though ive met you somewhere before..?" She whispered into his ear.  
  
She watched his servants over his shoulder patiently awaiting for their dance to end. On catching their gaze, they smiled widely at her, and she had that similar feeling of deja vu once more.  
  
At 11:59, they finally stopped dancing, and Haku held her away from him, gazing into the depths of her warm chocolate-coloured eyes. Just as he was about to say his first words for the evening, clock struck twelve.  
  
GLancing wildly at the grandfather clock, he rushed away from her. Running up the steps he turned and looked at her one last time.  
  
Ripping a tag from his suit, he threw it down to her. Her eyes were wide in shock as she watched him leave her.  
  
Chucking down the herbal cake, Haku returned to the bathouse.  
  
-------One week passes----------  
  
Over the past week, Chihiro had turned the tag over and over in her hands, wondering where she had seen it before. It couldnt have been from the bathouse...but thats the only explanation. That means that was HAku...but why did he stay? Why didnt he tell me that it was him? Is that his idea of keeping his promise?  
  
There would be only one way of finding out.  
  
As Chihiro now lived near where she had stumbled across the bathouse, she had little difficulty getting there.  
  
Passing through the tunnel, past the stones of the dry river, and to the end of the bridge Chihiro walked.  
  
At the end of the bridge, there stood Haku.  
  
Time stood still as they stood looking at what eachother had become. They ran towards eachother, Chihiro's eyes streaming with tears, and into their first proper embrace. Holding eachother there, in the middle of the bridge, the spell on Haku was broken as he had kept his promise.  
  
Stroking Chihiro's hair, Haku whispered to her:  
"I'll never let you go, never again...ever"  
  
OWARI

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AN: Please review  
  
id really like that  
  
its a bit of a weird concept i know but....yknow :-)  
  
no flames please...i did try 


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